Quebec reshapes health system

7th March 2006

In a move that has led to both support and criticism across Canada, the province of Quebec plans to reshape its public healthcare system to include more private medical care.

Quebec’s premier, Jean Charest, has promised that if government funded hospitals extend waiting times to nine months, Quebec will pay to send patients outside the province, including to the United States. Hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery will be done within six months of diagnosis, even if it means that the provincial government has to pay for them to be done at private clinics.

Other provinces are likely to be follow this initiative; Alberta and British Columbia are already planning to increase private intervention in the public healthcare system.